(Re: condition #1) While I find compelling the argument that (some of) our subjective experiences are instantiations of objective (dis)value (see Rawlette 2016; Vinding 2014), I am highly skeptical about claims of moral truths that are not completely dependent on sentience.
Under hedonism, any and all claims of moral truths are completely dependent on sentience. So 100 % weight on hedonism (in principle) makes condition 1 met, right?
(Re: #2) I don’t see why we should assume it is possible to “find” (with a sufficient degree of certainty) the moral truth, especially if it is more complex than – or different from – something like “pleasure is good and suffering is bad.”
In general, the greater the amount of resources of a civilisation, the more resources could be directed towards finding the moral truth. So should we expect more powerful civilisations to be better at finding the moral truth? I suppose one could argue that such civilisations may be selected such that they direct fewer resources towards finding the moral truth, but I do not think that is obvious, because finding the moral truth also has selection effects. For example, finding the moral truth seIects for not going extinct (to continue searching for it), and space colonisation arguably decreases extinction risk.
Hi Jim,
Nice post!
Under hedonism, any and all claims of moral truths are completely dependent on sentience. So 100 % weight on hedonism (in principle) makes condition 1 met, right?
In general, the greater the amount of resources of a civilisation, the more resources could be directed towards finding the moral truth. So should we expect more powerful civilisations to be better at finding the moral truth? I suppose one could argue that such civilisations may be selected such that they direct fewer resources towards finding the moral truth, but I do not think that is obvious, because finding the moral truth also has selection effects. For example, finding the moral truth seIects for not going extinct (to continue searching for it), and space colonisation arguably decreases extinction risk.